JanetAnne

Ah, safety in numbers! I need more boats

You too eh? Then again, some years ago I wanted to buy a Vauxhall Cresta. I was told in no uncertain terms that such a purchase would result in removal of items I hold dear followed by much eye watering. Anyway I bought said Vauxhall and tucked it away out of sight. I then bought a magazine on classis busses, circled a couple of double deckers in the classifieds, made some notes on the page and left it open on top of the telly. A few weeks later it was casually suggested that I could have that bloody car if I still wanted it..... Hiding a 42 ft wooden broads cruiser was more of a challenge though

Night nav is a favourite with us and we find it a far nicer way to charge batteries than sitting on a mooring! Most trips we will have an hour or two out in the dark and pick our night with lots of moonlight. You will be amazed at just what and how much you do see

Calendars are on schedule and are somewhere in the press probably going round and round on that big drum thing as we speak! Labels are printed, stamps are licked and postmen all over the country are feeding their cats in anticipation. We are at Defcon 4, Amber alert, etc and just a tad excited. It does look the doggys gonads! Yes, I do have a members recent change of address that was sent to me the other day. Will forward it accordingly.

Dont forget to keep an eye on your battery usage if staying put for a longer period as these short days mean higher demands on the battery bank.

In my experience, and making sure I do not take anyting away from such highly skilled boatbuilders, the majority of woodies on the broads are maintained to a very high standard by their owners including structural repairs etc. If they could only be repaired by highly skilled workers then many of them would no longer still be here because the costs would far outweigh the value of these boats. Ref the gelcoat repair. Matching the colour is going to be much harder than the actual doing the job. My first port of call would be a RAL and a BS colour chart. Once you have found your colour or as close to it as you can you will be able to order pigment using the RAL number or the BS number as appropriate. This pigment will let you tint clear gelcoat to your boats colour. By the way, make sure you have a nice clean bit to match the colour to. Give it a quick polish or t cut to remove grime and dirt first so you are matching gelcoat without a layer of crap on it!!

I am glad that we are able to re open these discussions whether that be through new members or old. Every time we revisit such issues there are different members active from the previous time and so we get different view points. Peoples views also change over time, I know mine have, and reading through this recent thread I have, once again, learnt something from the contributors.

Dont forget that to 'Maintain Navigation' as part of the BA's remit they are supposed to reach the following The Authority’s Sediment Management Strategy 2007 sets out the ‘ideal waterway specifications’ in terms of depths. These vary across the network from 1.5 metres to 2.4 metres below mean low water springs. So next time you run aground just ask yourself whether there is 1.5 metres of water below you at mean low water. Then you can decide whether navigation is being maintained appropriately

I hope that's not the larch....

With our much milder winters you are normally safe through to the new year. We have two woodies that will be afloat through to the new year only coming out in January. Remember ice forms much easier on the northern extremities of the broads due to the reduced tidal water movement. Having said all that, I suspect that many on here will be quite envious of your Christmas plans and would do the same given the chance. I know I would...

Welcome from me too. Make sure you keep the middle of next August clear... us woodie owners tend to migrate south en mass around the 16th

Perhaps you could raise more by getting them to pay for you to NOT sing?

Thats what we like to hear Lakesailor. Dont forget, everyone, that by supporting the calendar you also make an active and very valued contribution towards supporting the forum. Oh yes, you also get to spend next year looking at some stunning pictures of Broadland as chosen by yourselves. Can it get any better I ask?

Sounds more like a scene from Deliverance than Norfolk. I note you say sitting in the boatyard rather than the boat? Do we need an optimism injection?

I thought the double entendre was more his instrument

And he has!

If you go in the dark it saves all that closing your eyes stuff. Obviously finger crossing is exempt from this.

By the way. We measured Beccles old bridge in August. The marker boards are way out. We made it 8 inches difference! The reason we checked it was one of the boats coming to the Beccles Wooden Boat Show had failed to arrive due to insufficient clearance. Out of curiosity we went and got the boat, nosed it up to the bridge and measured the height from water to the underside. We then measured the air draft of the boat which was out by 6 inches. Combined we gained 14 inches on their original needed clearance. Through we came with plenty of space. I did refer the marker boards to the BA at the time.

I was told that when new hardwood trees are planted they usually have a softwood sapling put in beside them. This encourages the hardwood tree to grow faster as it competes for the light above. After a while the softwood trees are felled and enter the wood chain leaving the hardwood trees to finish growing. It is because of this practice that we are now getting 'softer' hardwoods. The chap who told me all this had the contract to fell and log the softwoods. I was sounding him out for some oak whilst putting a clutch in his truck!!

Thats my Christmas pressy sorted!

I took Andy's Judith through at 5'11" The pilot said "if you don't get through tonight you won't be getting through for the next three weeks"! Tonight meant just before midnight. We stripped everything off the top as you can imagine. Anxiously watching the pilots gauge (through the window by torchlight) the time came to go for it. And we did. The fwd end went through no problem but the noise from behind was horrendous. Being nothing short of pitch black I feared the worst not being able to see much so we moored and I inspected the damage. Not a scratch! We eventually worked out that the wind had lifted the corners of the canvas canopy as we went through and that was the noise amplified by the darkness and bridge chamber effect. There was a slight rub on the corner of the material. When I told Andy he said "don't know what you were fretting about. She'll do 5'9" with the speed under her" Not with me at the helm I thought! Gotta love that bridge.

I know somebody with a pair of Cummins that would fit that nicely...

No, it's all good. We haven't printed yet so there is no limit on numbers until we press the button in a couple of weeks.

No, there is certainly no limit Brian. In theory you can have as many as you like. Hopefully the tech team will be along soon ( they are only doing 25 hour days at the minute so will relish the challenge no doubt )

Don't worry. You haven't missed it. There will be a PayPal option in the next few days so we can painlessly extract the appropriate sum from everyone. Just need the tecky's to press buttons for me first!